Have Whites Lost Their ‘White Privilege’ Status?

“There may be some practical reasons why some white people have gotten more efficient at killing themselves. For one thing, whites are more likely than blacks to be gun owners, and white men favor gunshots as a means of suicide … But something more profound is going on here too. As New York Times columnist Paul Krugman puts it, the ‘diseases’ leading to excess white working-class deaths are those of ‘despair.’”

“White privilege was never, however, simply a matter of economic advantage. As W.E.B. Du Bois wrote in 1935, ‘It must be remembered that the white group of laborers, while they received a low wage, were compensated in part by a sort of public and psychological wage.’ He was talking about admission to public schools, spaces and functions. Today, at least legally speaking, all of that is open to all. But as blacks have made gains, in the de jure sense, whites have lost ground economically. As a result, the ‘psychological wage’ awarded to white people has been shrinking.”

“The combination of downward mobility and racial resentment may be a potent invitation to the kind of despair that leads to an increase in white working-class deaths, to suicide in one form or another, whether by gunshots or drugs.”

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Do not forget the white flight. It was not just to the suburbs, but increasingly to small towns or rural areas. These areas have limited job opportunities.

pisher

I don’t think we have the data to show whether these people live where they do because of white flight from the cities, which was mainly more affluent people heading towards the suburbs.

IndieRepub

We have thousands of studies showing black people live in shitty neighborhoods because of historical oppression. Even the father of modern libertarianism Robert Nozick said it’s not a morally enforceable political ideal because it fucks over people who were fucked over historically.

pisher

Again, this subject of this thread is not black people and where they live. My point was that many of the white people referred to above were always living in rural areas where opportunities are poor, and I doubt many of them were ever prosperous enough to engage in ‘white flight’.

Not only people of color have persistent social dysfunctions to deal with, problems that endure from generation to generation, legacies of a screwed-up history, and to suggest otherwise–kinda racist.

IndieRepub

Realy, Pisher? That’s the sort of logical fallacy I’m used to seeing on Fox News… not here. Black people as a whole have been oppressed leading to widespread poverty. White people as a whole have not. Recognizing a difference isn’t racist. Not recognizing one, which you seem to be doing, most certainly is… but I don’t give a damn. You can say whatever you want. Social mobility among white people is also far greater due to just the resume issues I mentioned.

nowaRINO

Sociologists talk about the Great Migration of Blacks from the South to the North (now the Rust Belt) but seem to forget southern white folks did the same thing. Later in the 1970’s in the Midwest many, many these white folks left the cities for cheaper homes in the country because they couldn’t afford the suburbs, only to have no futures when rural factories closed.

I will show you my in-laws and many others who are but one generation Midwestern ‘country’ and have never tilled anything but a tomato patch.

pisher

I don’t think we have the data to show whether these people live where they do because of white flight from the cities, which was mainly more affluent people heading towards the suburbs.

IndieRepub

HAHAHA I’ll remember that next time I’m pulled over and not shot for no reason. Barbra needs to examine her use of overarching language for nuanced things. Or go home.

pisher

That’s about the only privilege left, really. Explains why it’s hard to get so many lower-income whites to show any sympathy about police shooting black people, even though they have more than their share of run-ins with the cops.

IndieRepub

That’s absolutely wrong though. Study after study shows black sounding names are less likely to get interviews/hires. They’re also much more likely to grow up in poverty as an artifact of historical oppression, leading to a lifetime of difficulties. Camden vs. Cherry Hill.

Honestly, when a republican is more progressive than you on race, you need to examine your position.

pisher

I could easily say the same of you, but I won’t bother. You’re right about the hiring, but it’s beside the point. This article isn’t about black people. It’s about poor whites who are going to stay poor, in spite of being white. And they can vote, and they are going to vote their anger. And we have to be ready for that, and stop thinking we can appeal to class solidarity or whatever.

I’m less concerned with how progressive I am than how progresssive my country is, and how progressive my country is depends on WINNING ELECTIONS–nobody suffers more from conservative victories at the polls than African Americans.

I’m sick of people being so concerned with saying the right thing that they never DO the right thing.

IndieRepub

My complaint is that bs language like “white privilege” immediately stokes fires and makes enemies… it’s a phrase born out of race relations that is immediately going to bring that imagery to mind for most people. I’m not sure we have a huge disagreement here… I just think people shouldn’t have to say the right thing and even pretend caring about poor whites necessitates a conversation about race relations… and this article frames it as if that’s a must by using bullshit charged language.

pisher

That’s about the only privilege left, really. Explains why it’s hard to get so many lower-income whites to show any sympathy about police shooting black people, even though they have more than their share of run-ins with the cops.

IndieRepub

HAHAHA I’ll remember that next time I’m pulled over and not shot for no reason. Barbra needs to examine her use of overarching language for nuanced things. Or go home.

Silent_Partner

We can only hope any people with such delusional thoughts make sure the gun is all the way in their mouth so they don’t miss. Blacks haven’t taken anything from them. Black people in urban areas are still the most unemployed in the country. It’s just that the overlords that they prayed to at the altar to for so many years looked out for #1 when it was time to tighten the purse strings and exploited cheaper workers in other countries to keep the profits high. If these dummies would look into that, they would see that those same black people who weren’t getting jobs you used to get still aren’t getting them. They’re in China and other countries where they pay slave wages instead. So thank your overlord boss and say amen before you blow your head off.

pisher

I am far from convinced that such delusions are confined to poor conservative whites…….

Silent_Partner

We can only hope any people with such delusional thoughts make sure the gun is all the way in their mouth so they don’t miss. Blacks haven’t taken anything from them. Black people in urban areas are still the most unemployed in the country. It’s just that the overlords that they prayed to at the altar to for so many years looked out for #1 when it was time to tighten the purse strings and exploited cheaper workers in other countries to keep the profits high. If these dummies would look into that, they would see that those same black people who weren’t getting jobs you used to get still aren’t getting them. They’re in China and other countries where they pay slave wages instead. So thank your overlord boss and say amen before you blow your head off.